What Should I Make For Dinner?

How do you decide what to have for dinner? Do you go by what you are in the mood for or what is the quickest meal you can come up with for tonight? If I don’t plan ahead for specific dinners, I usually find myself looking at what is in the refrigerator/freezer/pantry for ideas. That is how the meals below came together – no recipes – just what makes a good match. Chicken breasts and flank steak were in the freezer. The asparagus and salad ingredients were in the refrigerator. I also had a little cream and the mozzarella cheese in the refrigerator. Chicken broth, corn meal and the ingredients for the soup were in the pantry. So they became dinner for 3 nights in the true Italian frugal way. They all passed the test for delicious, according to my husband. If you are looking for something different to make, try the recipes below.

Dinner One

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

If you have leftover chicken, as I did, it makes a delicious chicken salad.

Ingredients

2 whole jarred roasted red peppers, divided

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

2 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs, divided

Chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F.

Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound until evenly thin.

Cut the roasted red peppers to fit the flattened chicken breasts. Place the peppers on the chicken and sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese on top of each breast. Fold in the sides of each breast and roll the breasts up, jelly roll style.

Place the chicken rolls in a small baking dish (just large enough to fit the chicken rolls) and sprinkle with the Italian bread crumbs and parsley.

Pour the broth around the chicken rolls and bake for about 45 – 60 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken breasts) or until the chicken registers 165 degrees F on an instant meat thermometer. Slice the chicken rolls into half-inch slices to serve.

Oven Roasted Asparagus With Lemon Shallot Sauce

If you are making the asparagus without the chicken dish above, then preheat the oven to 425°F. Bake the asparagus until tender for 15 to 20 minutes. If making the asparagus with the chicken, then use the directions below.

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt

Sauce

½ cup low sodium chicken broth

1 scant teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon zest

¼ cup heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Toss the asparagus with oil and a sprinkling of salt in a large bowl. Spread on a baking sheet or a baking dish.

After the chicken has roasted for 30 minutes, put the asparagus in the oven with the chicken and roast, stirring once halfway through, until tender, about 25-30 minutes.

Place the asparagus on a serving plate.

To make the sauce:

Combine the cornstarch and broth.

In a small saucepan, heat the broth, shallot, zest, turmeric and cream to boiling. Boil until thickened and slightly reduced, whisking the entire time.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice.

Season with salt to taste and keep warm. (Makes 1/2 cup.)

To serve:

Pour the sauce over the roasted asparagus on the serving plate.

Dinner Two

Grilled Flank Steak

For the flank steaks marinade:

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

4 medium cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 flank steak, trimmed of excess fat

To marinate the flank steaks

Combine all the ingredients except the steak in a glass baking dish. Add the steak and turn to coat in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Remove the flank steak from the marinade and grill the steaks, covered, until grill marks form and the steaks have a nice brown sear, 4 to 5 minutes.

Turn the steaks and continue grilling until grill marks form on the other side and the steak is cooked to medium rare (an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a steak should read 130-135°F), 3 to 4 minutes more.

Let the steak rest 10 minutes loosely covered with foil. Cut the flank steak across the grain and serve with the Greek Salad.

Great ideas!! Now, how do we come up with ideas? Hmmmm! It all depends on how much time we have. Sometimes hubby is fishing and we get back late — can’t get too creative there. If I’m planning something special or for the blog I start thinking ahead of time about the ingredients and the time involved. I like looking for different recipes — I think our most repetitive dish is our salad. Hubby has to have his salad and he likes certain ingredients. Last night I did make a different salad that I plan on posting. He ate it without complaining — in fact he liked it for a change. Fishing is still blah 😦

Sometimes I get to plan ahead for meals but mostly it depends on what’s around. I keep a list of meat on the fridge so I know what I can work with. Your recipes look good. I especially like the chicken one.

In our house, my husband does most of the cooking so I don’t have this problem. I’m full of ideas(!) and he has skill. A suggestion to vamp up that Flank steak – Thai Beef Salad.

Peel and slice some cucumber (halved lengthways then angled slices) , halve some cherry tomatoes, chop some spring onion, slice a hot red chilli, then throw in a bowl with some fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves and a little ripped mint and or basil (thai basil if you can get it). Make a dressing of fish sauce, brown sugar, fresh lime juice and a drop of sesame oil. Once beef has rested and been sliced put all ingredients in a bowl together and toss. To serve top with some crushed roasted peanuts. This is a great summer quick meal at our house. And we almost always have all of the ingredients in house or garden during summer.

For fish, if he can filet the fish, just warm up some stock (store bought if there’s none in the freezer) and add a few threads of Saffron and some frozen or drained can of peas. Pan fry the fillets then place in a soup plate. (If you have a bulb of Fennel on hand, pan fry slices of that too.) Pour the hot stock and vegetables over the filet of fish (fennel under fish if you have it) and serve with some crusty bread. Voila!

The Greek Salad is great. Best thing about it, beyond the simplicity of the dressing, is that the ingredients go well enough together that varying the quantities of each a little doesn’t detract from the result.

Thank you so much Rex. I have worked on this recipe for a while until I got it to taste the way my husband and I like Greek Salad. And, you are so right, you can vary the ingredients a bit without notice. I love the way the ingredients come together for the salad’s unique taste.

Where to Find the Print Buttons

There is a print icon button towards the bottom of the post under the ad. The line says Share This. A print friendly icon is at the end of the share buttons. It follows the email icon and before the More icon. When you click on the print friendly icon, a new window will open and you should be able to print the post.

Browse by Title

Browse by Title

Search Site

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,464 other followers

Word Ads On This Blog

Dear Readers:
At the end of my posts, product ads are featured. If the ad seems of interest to you, click on the activation button and view the ad.
Each time an ad is viewed on my blog, I am compensated for this through the Word Ad program.
Thank you so much for being a reader of this blog.